Harford heartbreak at relegation

Luton boss Mick Harford admits he has been left heartbroken after their relegation from the Football League was confirmed.

Luton boss Mick Harford admits he has been left heartbroken after their relegation from the Football League was confirmed. The Hatters drew 0-0 with Chesterfield on Monday, which confined them to non-league football next season. Harford's men began the season with a 30-point deduction and that has proved the deciding factor in their fate. "I've said to the players, 100 per cent it's not their fault," said Harford. "They are a fantastic bunch of lads who have put their necks on the line and their careers on the line for Luton Town Football Club and they can walk out of here with their heads held high. "It's quite clear that the past incumbents of the club are the ones to blame. The penalty points were a massive burden and we just couldn't overcome it. "At five minutes to five on the 13th of April, that's the rebirth of Luton Town Football Club and there are a lot of people worse off than we are. "The benchmark is Doncaster Rovers. They went down but they came back and they're now in the Championship with a new ground. "That's what we'll be aiming to do and I just feel for the fans as well as the players because they don't deserve what they've had to put up with. "The game today wasn't irrelevant because if we'd have won we'd have still been in with a chance. "In the second half there was only one team that wanted to win it but we couldn't find the cutting edge that we had at Wembley and that's been the story of our season really at home."

Owen reaction

Luton chairman Nick Owen was equally disappointed by the relegation but insisted the club will prosper in the future. "We're shattered really but it was always predictable from day one that we were going to have an unbelievably difficult challenge ahead," he said. "If you take away the 30-point deduction, 24 hours before the first game we still had 11 TBCs (to be confirmed) on the team sheet. "But we assembled a squad which coped admirably given the circumstances. We were given our penalty to preserve the integrity of the Football League and hopefully that integrity has been preserved - that's all that matters. "This club has become a tighter knit community because of this, as shown by the 40,000 we took to Wembley. "We're much stronger psychologically, spiritually and financially. We're not going out of existence, which looked like might be happening at one point, we're just going to be playing in a different league and as the fans sang, Luton Town will never die."